Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

WEDNESDAY
Caleb got up at 4:45 for a feeding and then I woke everyone else up. Hey...they wanted me to. We got packed up and drove to the Sand Dunes National Park.

We got the early morning light and it was amazing. We got Caleb in his backpack and hiked the dunes. I couldn't believe how big and vast they are...and not on a coast! Here is the website and you can read how they got here.

Aunt Britta and Uncle Ryan bought Caleb a National Park Passport book so he can get official stamps at all the parks he visits.

Then we did a hike to the Zapata Waterfall with the Sand Dunes in view the way up.

Caleb was sick of being in a carrier

Uncle Ryan carried sleeping Caleb down to the car.

Where we parked was an overlook of the San Luis Valley.

From there we drove to Del Norte for lunch. We ate at Boogie's Restaurant. Josh's sister's nickname is Boogie so we had to eat there and it was really good. They were really busy though. As we were leaving Josh heard one of the cooks say she had made over 40 pies that day! Wow!

We continued on to Creede, a fun mountain town with unique stores. They had a mine that we visited but didn't end up going on the tour. Caleb still made a cute miner:)

Ryan and Josh fished along the way on the Rio Grande River on the way home.

We ate along the way home. Got home around 9:00. That was a LONG, FULL, WONDERFUL day!

THURSDAY
Britta, Caleb and I took a relaxing day instead of a huge hike that Josh and Ryan took. Ryan and Josh woke up and left at about 7am for a hike, and returned at 3:30. Talk about a hike. Josh is VERY PROUD of that hike. It was 4.75 miles one way. They gained over 2600 feet of elevation. Well done! Ryan took all those pictures so I'll have to post them another time.

While they were gone, we enjoyed time with Caleb and went into Crestone to an internet cafe. It was an interesting place. Someone had brought their yak with them if you can imagine.

We played some games and just enjoyed the view for the rest of the day. Gorgeous sunset!

FRIDAY
We packed up and made our way home. This home was so beautiful!

Caleb's favorite stuffed animal is Bryan, the monkey. We had to document where he had been too!

On the way we visited a lake and an overlook of the Collegiate Mountains. Caleb had his first explosive diaper that ran over to his carseat. We stopped, cleaned up, and shopped a bit too:)

We got to Denver at about 3:30. Josh took a nap and we all relaxed a bit before Ryan, Britta, Caleb, and I went out for Indian at Yak and Yeti. YUM! It was delicious and I got two platefuls from the buffet. I had just finished eating when Caleb filled his diaper so I took him to the bathroom to change him. He usually loves his diaper change or I can distract him if he doesn't like the initial "lay down." But I couldn't change his mind this time. Luckily my phone was in my pocket. After a couple minutes of Caleb crying in the echo bathroom I took him and the diaper bag outside. As I walked him around I still couldn't get him to calm down. I called Britta to bring his carseat and keys outside so I could try to nurse him in the car. I had just put him over my shoulder, still crying, when Britta walked out. He stopped and smiled at her. ACK! I said, "I hate you. But I'm glad that worked." haha...Oh Caleb. He already knows that his Aunt will only do good and nice things to and for him.

I then nursed him while Britta and Ryan finished their dinner. On the way home we stopped at Cheesecake Therapy. WHOA! I got a key lime pie mini cheesecake for Josh and me to split. I picked the right flavor I guess, because Josh devoured it when we got home.

I gave Caleb a bath and we got him to sleep. We then transferred him to his carseat to leave at 9:00. Britta had a wedding in the midwest so we took her with us and dropped her off along the way. It was nice to have another driver. Caleb did a really good job and we didn't have to pull over to calm him down. After we dropped off Britta we still had 2 hours to go and those were the hardest for Caleb. He had O.D. on car riding.

We got home at about 2:45 and Woody was thrilled to see us. We missed you too!
It was a great trip, but we are very happy to be home!